Ghosts in the Halls
by Nightchaser
Summary: xover with Bad Girls. Jack/Ianto SLASH and Nikki/Helen FEMSLASB. 1000 years in the future Captain Jack Harkness makes a decision that changes the past for all those he left behind.
1. Chapter 1

_Cardiff - 2002_

Toshiko Sato had been working for Torchwood now for eleven months. Monitoring the rift in space and time which ran through Cardiff; she had seen and experienced things which she had never even believed a year ago. If it hadn't been for her illustrious boss Captain Jack Harkness she would still be sitting in that horrible cell in the UNIT facility, slowly rotting away in non-existance.

Running her fingers through her long black hair, she reached for the mug of tea which was sitting to one side of her work station. Things were quiet in the hub at one-thirty in the morning, the bubbling of the river and hum of the computers the only things breaking into the silence. Most people would find it eerie, but Tosh found this place oddly calming, it gave her a sense of safety in a world gone mad. She let out a deep sigh and leaned back in her chair, taking off her glasses and placing them on the desk before closing her eyes.

A soft whooshing sound behind her caused her to swing around in her chair and face the person in the shadows.

The breath seemed to leave her body as she lurched to her feet, eyes widening at the image presented to her.

Jack Harkness was standing in the middle of the hub, staring around in confusion before his gaze finally settled on her. That's when Tosh noticed what he was holding in his arms. It was a small bundle wrapped in a blanket and Tosh knew that it was a baby before she even started moving towards the Captain.

"Jack," she whispered.

"Toshiko." His voice held a warmth that she had never heard from him before, and looking up into his impossibly blue eyes she knew that this wasn't her Jack. "What year is it?"

"What?" she asked, completely baffled by his question.

"Tosh, please." He was getting desperate now, something that was almost like panic filling his eyes.

"2002 ... its 2002 Jack," she answered.

"Shit, I'm to late," he glanced around. "I've got something to show you."

With that he placed the bundle in her arms and pulled the blanket away.

"Oh Jack, she's beautiful!" exclaimed Tosh.

And she was, with a shock of black hair and dark blue eyes, the baby had a round chubby face and full lips that were pulled into a smile.

"Isn't she perfect," he said.

"Is she ..." Tosh didn't know how to finish the question, because it just didn't seem possible. "... is she yours?"

Jack nodded slowly and lightly ran his fingertips over the tiny babies brow.

"My own little daughter."

"But who's the mother?"

He gave a short bark of laughter and then took the infant back.

"He's nobody you know yet," he answered.

"He? But Jack that's impossible!"

At that moment the rift monitor started to go insane and Tosh turned to look at the screen, when she turned back around Jack was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

_Larkhall Prison - 2006_

She wasn't sure what it was but something had awoken Nikki Wade violently in the middle of the night. She sat up quickly in bed, sheets tangling around her legs as she raised a hand to her heaving chest.

Silvery rays of moonlight were filtering through the bars and filthy glass which made up the single tiny window of her cell. It wasn't that she had never had nightmares before, in fact ever since Trisha had been attacked they had been a frequent part of her nights ... but not like this.

Her heart felt like it was trying to jump out of her chest, hands shaking as she pulled the bedclothes away from her body and found her feet on the freezing concrete of the prison floor.

The nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end, and upon closer inspection of her cell she saw that her many novels were lying on her cabinet ... open. This was unusual mostly because she was generally anally retentive when it came to her books, and there was no draft coming in from the window or under the door. Padding across the floor she carefully fingered the pages of Sense and Sensibility, the familiar sensation of paper beneath her fingertips oddly comforting.

A sound from beside the door startled her, and swinging around she felt the world start to drop away. A young girl was stood in the doorway, no older than seven with long dark hair and big hazel eyes. She was wearing what appeared to be a pink party dress, with a battered old teddy bear clutched in her right hand.

"Hello," said Nikki, taking a step forward before freezing when expressionless eyes slid in her direction.

The thought that there was no possible way this was real hit her like a sledge hammer, taking away her breath and making her legs weak. Slamming her eyes closed she slowly counted to ten and then opened them.

The girl was still standing there, fiddling with a slim gold chain around her neck.

There was a ring on the chain, it was gold and shaped like a pair of dolphins.

It was Nikki's goddamn ring!

In the blink of an eye the girl was gone, leaving Nikki feeling strangely cold and empty.

--

Entering the meals area the next morning, Nikki was pathetically grateful for the unusual chaos of prison life, it made the terror of last night fade away. Looking across the sea of familiar faces she caught sight of the governor looking painfully out of place in her perfectly tailored suit and blouse.

Nikki was attracted to Helen Stewart like a moth to the flame.

Striding across the floor, she weaved between the tables so as to lean against the bars beside Helen who turned her head slightly to look at her.

"Good morning Nikki," she said, Scottish words rolling erotically over her tongue.

Nikki had always had a soft spot for accents.

"I saw something unusual in my cell last night."

Turning around completely to face the other woman, hands resting on her hips and a concerned look on her beautiful face.

"Define unusual," she said in a hushed voice.

Nikki ran her fingers through her short black hair, unsure of whether to tell this woman who she barely knew about something that had rattled her so completely. It wasn't that she didn't trust Miss. Stewart, but Nikki had never believed in ghosts before and she wasn't about to start now.

"It was a little girl," she said between grit teeth.

Helen rolled her eyes.

"I don't have time for this Nikki," she said, moving as if to walk away.

"I'm being serious," hissed Nikki.

"Maybe you should talk to your personal officer," answered Helen, giving her a sad smile before leaving the meals area, her heels clicking on the hard floor.

"So you've got a ghost problem?" the voice of Julie S dragged Nikki out of her silent contemplation.

"Whats it got to do with you two?" demanded Nikki.

"Jules here is a medium," said Julie J, fiddling with her apron before leaning against the bars . "Isn't that right Jules?"

"Oh that's right Jules," answered Julie S.

"So?" demanded Nikki.

The two Julies glanced at each other, before looking back at Nikki.

"Well I can contact ghosts can't I?" asked Julie S, while Julie J nodded frantically beside her.

--

"I'm not so sure about this ladies," said Nikki, easing herself down to sit cross-legged on the floor of the cell.

"Do you think she was a ghost?" asked Julie J, taking Nikki's hand in her own.

"Yes," answered Nikki.

"Well then," said Julie S, taking her other hand.

With a soft sigh Julie S closed her eyes, face relaxing into an expression of pure concentration ... which in all honesty filled Nikki with dread. After a moment of eerie silence the air seemed to hum as if with electricity, causing Julie S to open her eyes and stare at something in the corner of the cell.

"Mary mother of ..." At the sound of her gasp, both Nikki and Julie J both started.

The little girl was standing in the corner, a bemused look on her face.

"Do you see her aswell?" whispered Nikki.

"Yes," answered Julie J, gripping her hand tightly.

"Is it a ghost?" hissed Nikki, glancing over at Julie S who was sitting there with her mouth open.

"I don't think so," she answered. "It doesn't feel the same."

This made absolutely no sense to Nikki, how could it not feel the same? The girl was obviously a ghost, after all what was she doing in Larkhall with the ability to just appear and disappear seemingly at will.

"What do you mean she's not a ghost?" hissed Julie J, not taking her eyes off the apparition. "Then what is she."

The girl gave a woeful grin and held out one hand to them, before disappearing and leaving nothing but a faint swirling orange mist in her wake.

"Rayne," answered Julie S. "She told me her name is Rayne."

--

_Somewhere in Cardiff _

_(the same day)_

The sound of loud, angry footsteps on the first floor walkway rang out across the previously silent hub, and made Gwen Cooper jump in her seat. Unfortunately this caused a sharp pain to lance down her right side, bringing with it a shot of terror that always accompanied any memory of the Brecon Beacons.

It had only been six days since their run in with a village full of cannibals and Gwen didn't think that any of them would ever be the same again. The entire incident seemed to have even shaken Owen, the only one of them who had come through uninjured, who wouldn't stop alternately complaining at and mothering them. Tosh had barely spoken a word since they had returned, instead she spent her days tapping compulsively at her workstation and rubbing at the rope burns on her wrists.

Jack was the only one who hadn't been affected.

Thoughts of their heroic leader drew her gaze to the man standing on the walkway. He was deathly still, like a statue, arms folded across his chest and cold blue stare focused on something over her shoulder.

Following his gaze, Gwen smiled softly at the sleeping form of Ianto Jones on the sofa. As far as she could tell he hadn't gone home in the past six days, instead he had spent it skulking around the hub; his bruised and broken body wrapped up in perfectly pressed suits. Until exhaustion overcame him.

It made her heart ache when she thought of everything he had been through, he was only twenty-four years old and had already seen more pain and loss than most people did their whole lives. She was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't notice Jack standing behind her until he placed a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Go home Gwen. Its ..." He glanced at his watch. "... two in the morning."

She shook her head.

"I don't think he wants to be alone." She motioned towards Ianto. "So I just thought I'd spend the rest of the night here."

"I'll still be here," muttered Jack, patting her shoulder lightly. "Go home."

Gwen hesitated. Things had been cold and a little awkward ever since they had discovered Ianto's cyber ex-girlfriend in the basement, and she was concerned that Jack wasn't equipped to deal with the boys emotional recovery. Jack however seemed to ignore her pause, instead shrugging out of his enormous coat and draping it over the slender form of Ianto.

"Thanks Jack," she said, collecting her stuff. "Goodnight."

"Oh and Gwen." She paused by the cog door and turned around. "Let Rhys know we'll be going to London for a few days."

"Jack ... what?" she demanded.

"Theres been a lot of rift cracks in London," answered Jack, settling himself at Owens desk. "And since Torchwood One doesn't exist anymore, its up to us."

"Not the whole team?" she questioned lightly.

"We're all going." His voice was harsh.

"You can't do that to him Jack." She could feel herself getting frustrated at this man who was so far from the future that he didn't have a clue how to deal with people here and now. "He's been through enough the past few weeks."

"I want him where I can keep an eye on him."

"If you don't trust him anymore just let him go Jack," she said. "Retcon him or whatever it is you do when people leave Torchwood .. but just let him go."

"No," his voice sent a shudder down her spine.

"Jack..."

"Gwen!"

Gwen Cooper may be many things but stupid wasn't one of them and so turning on her heel she left the hub.

--

The day after the eventful seance' with the two Julies, the entire wing was thrown into chaos as two men wearing military uniforms and red caps marched in.

"What do you think is going on?" asked Krystal, looking at Nikki over the top of her bible.

"Don't know," she answered. "Maybe terroists?"

"They haven't got anything to do with terroists," muttered Monica, sliding into the chair beside Nikki. "Thats UNIT."

"Who?" demanded Nikki, watching as the men started pulling high tech looking pieces of equipment out of their bags.

"Its a sort of government thing," answered Monica, sipping her tea. "More of a research division of the Department of Defence. I used to work for an organization affiliated with them, I had hoped that they would be able to help Spencer."

She closed her eyes and shuddered.

"So what happened then?" asked Krystal.

"There was a disaster in the building we were based in, and less than twenty of us walked away," whispered Monica.

"Wow," said Nikki. "What kind of disaster?"

"It doesn't really matter now Nikki," answered Monica. "I just want to know why UNIT has taken interest in Larkhall."

"Oooo ... watch out!" said Krystal, nodding slightly towards the main gates leading onto the wing. Turning in her chair, Nikki watched as an obviously irate Helen Stewart stormed across the wing and right up to the two men.

"Just what do you think you're doing disrupting my wing without informing me first?" she demanded, hands moving to her hips as she glared down the two men.

"Our orders come from way over your head m'am," said the taller of the two, barely glancing at the tiny woman.

"I don't care where your orders come from," hissed Helen. "You do not come onto my wing without my express permission."

"It doesn't matter anyway," said the other man, tapping the blue tooth device in his ear. "Torchwood is taking this one."

Beside Nikki Monica gasped at that and placed her hand over her mouth.

"What's wrong?" asked Nikki.

"Torchwood," said Monica under her breath. "That's who I used to work for."

"I thought you said it had been destroyed," whispered Nikki.

"The office in London was," said Monica, watching as the two men started packing up their equipment. "But there is still Glasgow and Cardiff."

"So they're coming all the way from Glasgow?" asked Nikki.

"No," laughed Monica. "Cardiff ... I think we're going to be getting a visit from Captain Jack."


	3. Chapter 3

It had been just over a year since the last time Ianto Jones had been in London, and the horrifying memories of searching through the smoking remains of Torchwood Tower for any survivors still haunted him today. More than haunted him in all honesty, there wasn't a night that went by where he didn't wake up covered in sweat and gasping for breath with the scorching sensation of flames against his skin still fresh in his mind.

He felt the usual panic twist his stomach as he stared out of the window of the crowded cab at the bustling streets beyond. His own rapid breathing was painfully loud in his own ears despite the loud bickering going on amongst the others. It was only Tosh, who was leaning against him and had intertwined their fingers, who had managed to match his silence. They hadn't really ever been close, both of them to quiet and introspective to really form a friendship, until their adventure in the countryside. It seemed that getting locked up in a basement full of dismembered body parts by cannibals was just the thing to form a lifelong bond.

Gently stroking his thumb over her knuckles, Ianto tore his gaze away from the window and to the top of Tosh's dark head which caused her to tip her face up and give him a sad smile. By God he loved her, and he thought that Owen was the worlds biggest twat for not noticing that this beautiful woman was pining away for him.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly, raising her free hand to softly stroke down his cheek.

"Of course I am," he answered, catching her palm with his lips.

It was at that moment he noticed sudden silence in the cab, and glancing up he found Gwen, Owen and Jack staring at them. Owen's face was filled with confusion; Gwen's eyes were full of shock joy; but the look in Jack's face was the same pure betrayal that he had portrayed when they had found out about Lisa.

"Ok." The smile on Tosh's face almost broke his heart.

"I didn't know you two were an item," said Gwen, leaning forwards in her seat and fixing Ianto with an interested stare.

"That's because we're not," he answered, as Tosh let out a ringing laugh. Some of the agony in his chest seemed to loosen at the sound, it was the first time he had seen her happy since the Brecon Beacons.

"Are you sure?" asked Gwen, the light of a woman in match-making mode filling her eyes.

"Leave it." Jack's voice had an edge to it that made Tosh grip his hand so tightly that the skin turned white.

Jack, to Ianto, was becoming increasingly more difficult to read. Before Lisa's rampage in the hub he had been outwardly flirtatious and even making blatant overtures, and even directly afterwards he had been surprisingly gentle towards him. Now though he was almost cold and distant, as if seeing Ianto injured had caused him to distance himself from the much younger man.

"So what exactly are we doing here Harkness?" asked Owen, arms folded across his chest and a harsh look in his eyes.

"Rift activity of course," answered Jack, seeming to brighten up at the chance to change the subject.

"Then why isn't somebody else dealing with it?" demanded Owen. "So we're supposed to leave Cardiff ... which is actually sitting on the rift remember ... unprotected because everyone else is just to damn lazy to do it?"

"And who else is going to deal with it Owen?" hissed Tosh, standing up to the doctor for once. "Torchwood Four? ... or Torchwood One?"

Memories of fire and screaming filled Ianto's mind at the very thought of Torchwood One, and he quickly turned his face away from the rest of the team so as to stare out of the window. A soft hand on his knee drew his attention to the concerned face of Gwen.

"Ianto," she whispered. "You didn't have to come."

Jack's head snapped up at that, and he fixed Gwen with a piercing glare. Ianto was familiar with that particular look, it was the same one he had received from Jack a week ago when he had told everyone that Lisa was the last person he had kissed. It wasn't that he had been denying the fact that Jack had kissed him whilst he was laying half-dead in the river which ran through the hub. The very idea of denying something like that was laughable, but he hadn't thought that Jack would want the rest of the team to know that he was feeling up the tea-boy while the rest of them were being attacked by said tea-boy's robotic ex-girlfriend. Then again Ianto still had no idea why Jack had kissed him in the first place, surely there were better ways to bring somebody back to consciousness, nor could he understand his own reaction to it ... laying there in Jack's arms like some damsel in distress while Owen knifed Lisa.

Yes he could see why Jack hated him ... why he thought he couldn't be trusted in the hub on his own.

"Yes I did," he whispered softly.

--

Helen Stewart clicked her perfectly manicured fingernails on her desk and then began re-organizing her out-tray. She wasn't very often nervous about meetings in Larkhall, after all this was her domain and she was queen within it. However Special Ops was different, and today this Torchwood was due to come in and start whatever classified work they were doing in G wing. Helen was unsure whether they were coming for the drug problem or there was a terroist threat ... though terroists in Larkhall seemed pretty unlikely.

A soft knock on her door made her lift her gaze as Lorna poked her head into the office.

"Miss. Stewart," she said. "Those people from Torchwood are here."

Helen nodded her head.

"What are they like?" she asked, it wasn't very often that she asked advice but this time she was completely out on a limb.

Lorna gave her a grin and then rolled her eyes.

"Most of them seem alright," answered Lorna. "But their leader is this American, and marm he's a bit of a charmer."

With a soft laugh Helen picked up the pile of papers in front of her and tapped them neatly into place on the desktop.

"I know how to deal with men who think they're Gods gift," muttered Helen.

Raising an eyebrow Lorna took a step backwards and pushed open the door to allow a tall man to sweep into the office, larger than life and with a charisma that seemed to fill the room. Immediately Helen knew that she had never met anybody quite like this before, there may have been one or two close, but none that made her want to lean back in her chair just to make room for him in the small office. His clothes were an obvious throwback to the 1940's, including a floor length military coat; yet it was the toothy smile on his face and the twinkle in his blue eyes that caught her attention.

"Good morning m'am," he said, falling into the chair opposite her and holding out his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness."

She shook his hand and then sat back.

"Well Captain," she said. "What exactly are you going to be doing in my wing?"

"Ah." He folded his arms across his chest. "That's classified."

In that instance Helen knew that she was going to have a fight on her hands, this man wasn't going to give her anything and she wasn't letting him disrupt the workings of G-wing unless he gave her the right answers.

"I am not letting you onto G-wing unless I decide that its for a good cause."

His face froze momentarily and his eyes became more calculating than amused.

"Ianto!" he snapped suddenly, causing Helen to jump in her feet.

The door opened smoothly and another man slid gracefully into the office. He was young, no older than twenty-five, dressed in a immaculate pin-striped suit and light blue shirt with matching tie. There was something about him, a familiarity that took her breath away but she just couldn't put her finger on who he reminded her of.

"Sir," answered the man, obviously this Ianto, in a strong Welsh accent.

Without missing a beat Harkness held up his hand and Ianto placed a file into it, which was handed straight to Helen.

"You'll find everything you need to know in here," he said.

She opened the file and gasped when she realized that the authorization documents inside came straight from both Buckingham Palace and Whitehall, this Torchwood was obviously far higher up in the chain than she had suspected. There was absolutely nothing that she could do to stop them getting whatever they wanted within Larkhall, and honestly that kind of pissed her off.

"Very well," she hissed, getting to her feet. "I'll take you to the wing."

Jumping up from his chair, Harkness swept past the young man and out of the office into the hallway. Moving past him, Helen look up into his face and stopped short when she saw the state that he was in. Beneath the perfect exterior he obviously worked hard on portraying, it looked like he had been hit by a truck. A nasty bruise covered his left temple and cheek, running down his neck and under his collar; several cuts, some of them stitched up, ran parallel to his hairline.

"Ma'm," he said, giving a small bow and gesturing that she should proceed him out of the door.

"Thank you," she whispered, taking one last glance at him before leaving his office.

--

It had been many years since Captain Jack Harkness had been in prison, and despite his many many years of walking the Earth (and various other planets) he had never actually had the opportunity to be inside a womens prison. Standing beside the pool table on the ground floor, he looked up to the upper landings to find many interested eyes looking down at him. An incredibly uncomfortable looking Owen and Tosh were pulling out the gear further down the floor, surrounded by their own security team of prison guards

"I really should have locked down the wing," muttered Miss. Stewart, her entire body tensing as another particularly vulgar cat-call floated down from the upper landings.

"I'm glad you didn't," he answered. "We need to discover if the activity is more pronounced around a specific person, that's easier to do when they're all together."

"Jack!" Tosh's call silenced anything that Miss. Stewart was going to say, and leaving the woman standing in the middle of the wing Jack walked over to his tech.

"What is it?" he whispered, looking down at the laptop she was fiddling with.

Tosh glanced around at the people surrounding them, and then sidled closer to Jack.

"Apart from the expected rift activity there's another signal," she said, hitting a key and pointing at the unusual signal being displayed. "Its like nothing I've ever seen before ... do you recognize it?"

There was something slightly familiar about the particular pattern in the signal, but nothing that popped straight into his memory. Maybe it was something he had picked up somewhere in his travels, but had never had a need to memorize.

"Kind of," he answered, straightening up. "But nothing definate, do we have a location for it?"

Tosh tapped away on the keyboard for a moment, before looking up at him and shaking her head.

"All I can tell is that its somewhere in the building." She shrugged slender shoulders. "Its not exactly strong in the first place."

He nodded and patted her on the shoulder, glancing over at Owen who was trying his hardest not to look absolutely terrified at being in a maximum security prison.

"They can smell fear you know." he said conversationally, earning him a glare from the doctor.

Suddenly the level of whistling and cat calls increased, drawing his attention to where Ianto had just entered the wing. Naturally every straight woman in there was attracted to the young man as if he were the sexiest thing in the world. Watching him walking towards them, wearing his best suit and with his head up high, Jack just thought he might be the sexiest thing in the world. Ianto ignored every single pair of hungry eyes that were fixed on him, except for Jack's whose gaze he met dead on. Maybe, just maybe, that was the sexiest thing about him; while Ianto was outwardly subservient towards him and everyone else in Torchwood there was a fire just underneath the surface that Jack was desperate to touch.

"Oi Harkness do I really have to be here?" demanded Owen, from where he was standing beside Tosh. "I'm a doctor, there's not much here I can do."

Jack waved him off, eyes fixed on where Ianto had moved to stand beside Miss. Stewart and was talking to her in a low voice. The woman, who had been scowling since they had arrived, suddenly smiled and looked up at Ianto with a warmth in her eyes ... Christ the boy had a gift.

"Shut up," he hissed at Owen, before affectionately tossling his hair.

--

"He's cute." Julie J's eyes were fixed on the tall man in the ridiculous coat, causing Nikki to roll her own eyes.

"If you say so," she muttered, poking her fork into her scrambled eggs and wandering if Dockley had spat into her food again this morning.

"Of course you don't think so," laughed Julie S, she turned to Julie J. "He's alright but I prefer the younger one."

Nikki nearly chocked on her mouthful of egg, glaring first at Julie S and then at the painfully young boy standing motionless beside his boss on the other side of the bars. Even calling him a man seemed stupid, he couldn't be any older than Dominic McCallister, barely twenty-five years old, and to Nikki he was nothing more than a boy.

"You're old enough to be his mother," she said, earning her a dark look from both Julie's. "That's disguisting."

Julie S shrugged her slim shoulders.

"I have a thing for cuties in suits," she said.

"And they're from Cardiff." Julie J leaned forwards to join the conversation. "You know what that means?"

Both Julie's leaned their heads together.

"Accents." They said in perfect unison.

A tray dropped onto the table beside Nikki, and she looked up to see Monica slide into the seat next to her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Julie's attraction to extremely young men," answered Nikki, watching as a small smile appeared on Monica's face.

"I didn't think that Mr. McCallister was your type," said Monica, looking over at the two Julies.

The moment that Monica glanced through the bars and into the main part of the wing her entire body went tense, mug of tea forgotten in her hands. That was when Nikki remembered Monica's story about having worked with these people before, in seemingly traumatic circumstances if Nikki was any reader of body language. She glanced over at the Julie's who gave a quick nod of their heads and then silently left the table.

"Are you alright?" asked Nikki, her desperate curiousity to understand people taking her over again.

"You see that man." Monica gestured towards the tall man in the coat.

"Of course," answered Nikki.

Even though she had never really been attracted to men there was something about this particular man that held her attention, maybe it was his outdated sense of dress or his obvious confidence in a difficult situation. She felt drawn to him in a way she had never ever felt about anyone.

"That's Captain Jack Harkness," she said. "Head of Torchwood Cardiff ... that's a very important man right there."

Nikki shovelled another forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

"Then why have they sent him here?" asked Nikki, swallowing quickly. "He must have really pissed someone off."

"Jack Harkness doesn't get sent anywhere by anyone," whispered Monica. "He's here for a reason."

"And what's that?" asked Nikki.

"Ghosts in the halls," answered Monica. "That's what he does."


	4. Chapter 4

Monica had never actually met Captain Jack Harkness before. In the ten years she had worked for Torchwood One his name had been whispered around the halls as if he were some kind of monster, a renegade who wasn't searching for the Doctor in order to hand him over to Torchwood Tower ... instead the man had some sort of personal vendetta against the Time Lord. She had never thought that she would ever have a use for someone like Harkness, that was until one day twelve years ago the most beautiful person she had ever seen appeared in her living room and asked her to perform a very important task. She had been given the job of finding the child of Captain Jack Harkness and bringing her to Torchwood Tower so that she could be protected during the dark days to come. Unfortunately when Monica had tried to complete this task, she had found it impossible to do.

Now the man himself was here, and Monica didn't know whether this particular Jack was aware of her betrayal or not.

Taking a sip of her tea, Monica found herself slinking back into the shadows desperately hoping that the Captain wouldn't take any notice of her. He had spent most of the morning wandering around the wing with a tiny (gorgeous of course) asian woman by his side, both of them waving familiar bits of alien technology around and talking to each other in low voices. She had heard that there was three other members of the team, but they were hidden away somewhere else in Larkhall conducting interviews with the other inmates ... which meant that it was only a matter of time until she was called up.

There was the usual clanging sound of the gates at the other end of the wing opening and closing, and looking up Monica saw something that made her heart sing again. Ianto Jones, looking more than perfect in a expensive suit and tie was walking down the wing, ignoring the interested looks and leers he was receiving. He stopped beside Mr. McCallister and the two of them had spoke for a moment, before two sets of brilliant blue eyes slid in her direction. Ianto nodded at Mr. McCallister and then walked right up to Monica, standing in front of her while she scrambled to her feet.

"Monica," he said softly. "You survived?"

She reached out and gripped his arm, clinging tightly to him and staring in horror at the bruises covering his face.

"They told us that you were dead," she whispered. "I was informed by UNIT that nobody from my division lived through the attacks."

"I ran," he answered, a shudder going through him. "What with Lisa and everything ..."

His voice broke and she saw a flash of pain run through his eyes.

"Oh Ianto," she loosened her grip. "I'm so sorry."

He looked as if he was about to say something, then stopped so suddenly that his body seemed to completely freeze. She watched him take several deep steadying breaths, and glancing over his shoulder she saw that the Captain had descended the stairs from the upper levels and was watching them with harsh eyes.

"Gwen wants to interview you about the unusual occurances that have been happening," said Ianto softly, and she released his arm suddenly.

He turned on his heel and, after gesturing for her to walk ahead, left the wing without so much as a backward glance.

--

Nikki knew that somebody was watching her before she even turned around from the bathroom sink. This was nothing new at Larkhall, after all this was a prison and the word privacy meant absolutely nothing to anybody around here. Unfortunately being watched with this intense kind of focus in the bathroom could only mean one of two things, either someone was going to try and beat her up or rape her. Wiping her hands one last time on the paper towel, Nikki exhaled heavily to centre herself and then turned around.

It was the little girl, Julie S had said that her name was Rayne but Nikki wasn't entirely sure if she believed in the womans 'special' skills.

"Hello there," whispered Nikki, deciding that maybe communication was the best answer here. "Rayne is it?"

The moment Nikki started talking a huge smile split the girls face, and she hugged her teddy-bear closer to her chest. She opened her mouth several times, but no sound came out which seemed to both frustrate and then amuse the girl.

"What are you trying to say sweetheart?" Nikki took a couple of steps forwards, but at that moment the bathroom door flung open and the tiny asian woman ran in with the Captain at her heels.

"Oh my God ... Jack!" said the woman, a strange contraption in her hand which she held up to Rayne.

"I see her," he answered.

At the sight of them Rayne looked back at Nikki with huge eyes and then completely disappeared.

"Its extraordinary Jack," whispered the woman. "Its like she's opening the rift so that she can come and go whenever she wants."

"But that's not possible," answered Jack. "Well not for her species anyway."

"Species!?" demanded Nikki, grabbing the man by his coat and pulling him around to face her. "What do you mean species?"

The two of them looked at each other, before the woman pulled off her glasses and walked out of the room.

"That's nothing you need to know," he answered, gently dislodging her fingers from his coat.

Oh now he was just pissing her off. There were ghosts running amok through Larkhall, the government had taken control and now some idiot who thought he was still in 1943 was talking about little girls being another species ... Nikki really didn't need any of this right now.

"My life is difficult enough without this," she hissed. "So why don't you just be honest with me?"

He gave her a contemplating look, grey/blue eyes giving her a once over before placing his hands on his hips.

"We think she's an alien," he said.

"Who?" asked Nikki. "There's a lot of women here I think might be aliens."

With a deep sigh he shook his head.

"I'm being serious," he muttered. "That little girl ... she's probably not even human."

Nikki rolled her eyes and pushed past him.

"Whatever," she hissed.

A strong hand on her arm made her stop, and she turned around to glare at him.

"I'm deadly serious," he hissed, his fingers tightening until she thought there would be bruises the next day. "And I'm going to need your help."

She pulled herself away from his grasp and placed her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean help?" she demanded.

The man pushed aside the edges of his coat so as to put his fists against his hips.

"Whatever it is has obviously attached itself to you for some reason," he answered with a shrug. "These things don't just happen."

He did have a point there, this little girl, Rayne or whatever, was following her around Larkhall in a way that was akin to stalking.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The grin he gave her was wide and full of perfect white teeth.

"Captain Jack Harkness." He took a step forwards and held out his hand. "And you are?"

"Nikki Wade," she answered, shaking his hand. "You've probably heard of me."

A look of confusion came over his handsome face, and he scrubbed a hand through his hair before shaking his head.

"Should I have?"

That completely baffled Nikki, after all she had been all over the media as the lesbian cop-killer, and even though this man was clearly American it was unlikely that he had been in the country for such a short amount of time. In fact she found it quite soothing to have a conversation with somebody who wasn't constantly looking over their shoulder for an escape route just in case she went mad and tried to kill them ... actually this Captain Harkness seemed quite fearless and Nikki respected that.

"I'm a lesbian and I killed a cop so yeah you should have," she answered.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"So I'm everything and I've killed a lot of cops," he answered.

"B-but I'm evil," she floundered.

"Trust me I've seen evil ... and you're not it." He sighed. "Now are you going to help me or not?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "I'll help you."

At that moment the door flew open again and the illusive final three members of this Torchwood came bursting in. The woman at the front of the group was good-looking in a girl-next-door sort of way, with long dark hair and a gap between her front two teeth. Her green eyes automatically attached to Jack before whipping around to glare at Nikki again.

"Jack, you know what Miss. Stewart said, none of us should be alone in a room with a prisoner without proper backup," she hissed.

"Leave it Gwen," answered Jack.

Their argument continued but Nikki was no longer listening, her attention was fixed on the two men standing behind the outspoken woman. One was maybe late twenties with an impish face and a gleam in his eye, definately the kind of man that Nikki could be friends with. After a few moments of watching his colleagues arguing, he merely gave Nikki a sharp nod and sauntered back out of the bathroom.

That left the other man, the one which Nikki had observed from a distance early that morning and decided was much to young for the likes of Julie S. Up close he seemed even younger, despite the expensive suit and proper manner, so young in fact that the softness of youth covered the angles of his face. His eyes however told a different story, this was a boy who had seen a lot of pain and suffering ... something which Nikki could certainly understand. She felt drawn to him in a way that she had never felt towards a man before in her life, and this disturbed her mostly because he was almost young enough to be her son ... if she had been a very young mother. Thankfully it wasn't sexual nor even attraction, in fact it was something far deeper ... something that was hidden deep in her sub-conscious, and it scared the shit out of her.

"Okay." It seemed that the argument had finished, and with a flourish of his coat Jack turned and stormed out of the bathroom with Gwen following closely on his heels.

With one final look at the young man Nikki also followed the Captain, stopping outside in the corridor where they were all assembled.

"Whose this?" The impish man asked, angling his head towards Nikki before glancing over at where the other man had finally joined them.

"Everybody this is Nikki Wade, she'll be helping us on this investigation," said Jack.

"She has a lot of strange readings around her," said the asian woman, holding what appeared to be some kind of scanning device.

"What kind of readings?" demanded Nikki.

"We'll get to that later," said Jack. "Firstly introductions. This is Gwen Cooper." He gestured to the dark haired woman. "She's second in command. And this is Dr. Owen Harper he's our team medic." The impish man waved a greeting. "Toshiko Sato technician." The asian woman nodded. "And this is Ianto Jones, he's pretty much everything else." The boy offered her a smile which she returned.

"So what is it that you want me to do?" asked Nikki.

Looking over at Toshiko, Jack held out his hand she placed a small device with a strap in it.

"We need you to wear one of these at all times," he said. "Its a rift detection monitor, basically whenever anything strange happens it sends a signal straight to our computers along with a tracking signal so we can tell exactly where you are and the level of activity."

Nikki held out her arm and let him attach it snuggly around her wrist.

"Is that it?" she asked.

"For now," answered Tosh. "We need to gather some readings first before we can make any actual scientific decisions."


End file.
